Perfumes and their preparation

The talcum must be reduced to the finest powder, levigated, dried, and then perfumed. Owing to its unctuous nature, it readily adheres to the skin, and as it has no effect on it and does not change color, it is the best of all powders.

Liquid Bismuth White; Pearl White (Blanc Perlé Liquide).

When standing at rest, the subnitrate of bismuth sinks to the bottom, while the supernatant fluid becomes quite clear. The bottle must therefore be vigorously shaken immediately before use. When this preparation remains on the skin for some length of time, it loses its pure white color and becomes yellow, or darker, through the gradual formation of a black sulphur compound.

Venetian Chalk (Craie Venétienne).

is made exactly like the French white, above; the only difference between the two preparations is that the talcum for the latter is brought to a red heat, which, however, causes it in part to lose the power of adhering to the skin.

B. Red Skin Cosmetics (Rouges).

Rouge Végetal Rose Liquide.

This superior preparation, which serves mainly for coloring the lips, is made as follows: Reduce the carmine to powder; macerate it in the ammonia in a three or four pint bottle for several days, add the other ingredients, and let it stand for a week under oft-repeated agitation. At the end of that time the bottle is left undisturbed until the contents have become quite clear, when they are carefully decanted and filled into bottles for sale.

In order to obtain this preparation in proper form, only the finest carmine should be used. That known in the market as “No. 40” is the best. This alone will produce a cosmetic that, when brought in contact with the skin, will give a vivid red color.

In place of carmine, which requires the presence of ammonia if it is to remain in solution, the anilin color known as eosine may be used. Of this, very minute amounts will be sufficient to impart the proper tint. It is impracticable to give exact proportions, as these must be determined in each case by experiment. It is necessary to avoid an excess. The tint of a liquid colored by eosine may not appear deep, and yet when it is applied to the skin a decidedly deeper stain than was desired may be produced. Hence each addition of fresh coloring matter must be carefully controlled by a practical test.

Rouge en Feuilles.

Cut from thick, highly calendered paper circular disks about 2½ inches in diameter, and cover them with a layer of carmine containing just enough gum acacia to make it adhere to the paper. For use, the leaf is breathed on, a pledget of fine cotton is rubbed over it, and the adhering color is transferred to the skin.

Rouge en Pâte.

The ingredients in finest powder are mixed in a mortar by prolonged trituration, then water is added in small portions to form a doughy mass to be filled into shallow porcelain dishes about the diameter of a dollar. If the rouge is desired darker for the use of actors and dark-complexioned persons, the proportion of carmine should be increased.

Rouge en Tasses.

This rouge, when dry, has a greenish metallic lustre; it is prepared and sold like rouge en pâte.

Bleu Végetal pour les Veines.

To the powdered solids add sufficient water to form a mass to be rolled into sticks. For use, a pencil is breathed on, rubbed against the rough side of a piece of white glove leather, and the veins are marked with the adhering color on the skin coated with pearl white. Of course, some dexterity is required to make the veins appear natural by the use of this blue color.

Rouge Alloxane (Alloxan Red; Murexide Paint).

Dissolve the alloxan in a little water and mix it intimately with any desired cold-cream. The mixture is white, but when transferred to the skin gradually becomes red. The preparation sold in Austria, etc., under the name of “Schnuda” is identical with this alloxan paint.

C. Face Lotions.

The skin often contains spots with marked color which are more or less unsightly; for instance, freckles, liver spots, mother’s marks (nævi), etc. Unfortunately we know of no remedy which radically removes them; even chemical preparations with the most energetic effects, which of course must never be employed owing to their destructive action on the skin, cannot entirely do away with these dark spots which have their seat in the lower layers of the skin. But the public demands preparations for the removal of freckles, liver spots, etc., and—obtains them. We subjoin the formulas for several of such secret remedies, but declare emphatically that none of them will completely effect the desired result.

Freckle Milk (Lait Antéphelique).

We call attention to the fact that the sublimate (bichloride of mercury) is very poisonous and must be used with the greatest care.

Freckle Lotion.

Macerate for a week and filter.

Eau Lenticuleuse.

Lilionese I.

Lilionese II.

Add only enough of the alcoholic tincture of benzoin to render the liquid slightly opalescent or milky.

Lotion for Chapped Skin.

Color pale red with cochineal.

Eau de Perles.

To be colored bluish with some indigo-carmin.

Teint de Venus.

The soap solution is made as concentrated as possible, and the entire fluid colored with cochineal; in place of the extract of orange flower, other essences or extracts may also be employed. For use, some of the liquid is poured into the wash water.

Pulchérine.

The preceding preparations owe their activity merely to the presence of carbonate of potassium which forms an emulsion with the fat of the skin and thus resembles in its effects a mild soap. The other ingredients only serve to render the composition fragrant.

D. Toilet Powders.

Toilet powders are used to impart whiteness and smoothness to the skin; hence they are merely a kind of dry cosmetic which are applied by means of a powder puff or a hare’s foot. Their main ingredients are starch and talcum powders, perfumed and sometimes tinted a rose-red color. It is immaterial what kind of starch is used; rice, wheat, and potato starch are equally effective, provided they are clear white and in the finest powder. In some cases the bitter-almond bran remaining after the expression of the fixed oil and the preparation of the oil of bitter almond is likewise used for toilet powders. The more thoroughly these powders are rubbed into the skin, the whiter the latter becomes and the less easily can they be detected.

White Toilet Powder.

Mix intimately.

Pink Toilet Powder.

Poudre de Pistaches.

The oil must have been completely extracted from the pistachio meal, which is to be reduced to the finest powder.

Poudre à la Rose.

Poudre à la Violette.

Poudre Blanche Surfine (Poudre de Riz).

Blanc de Perles Sec (Dry Pearl White).

Anti-Odorin.

This mixture, which is best left unperfumed, does excellent service when used to prevent an offensive odor in stockings or shoes. The inside of the stockings is dusted with the powder, and every week a teaspoonful is sprinkled into the shoes.

Skin Gloss.

Mix intimately and preserve in well-closed boxes. For use, stir some into water.

Kaloderm.

Form into a dough which is thinned with water and painted on the skin.

Musk Paste (for Washing the Hands).

Rub the starch with the glycerin in a mortar until they are thoroughly mixed. Then transfer the mixture to a porcelain capsule and apply a heat gradually raised to 284° F. (and not exceeding 290° F.), stirring constantly, until the starch granules are completely dissolved, and a translucent jelly is formed. Then gradually incorporate with it the powdered soap and orris root, and lastly the oils and tincture.

CHAPTER XXVII.
HAIR COSMETICS.

The number of preparations used for the care of the hair and beard is considerable. Unfortunately we are forced to admit that the majority of them, especially those said to strengthen the scalp and to stimulate the growth of the hair, are utterly inert. Thus far we know too little of the natural conditions of growth of the hair to enable us to compound remedies which would actively aid the efforts of nature in this direction.

In like manner we cannot speak with approval of the preparations used to color the hair, either from a chemico-sanitary or from an æsthetic standpoint; many of them contain substances which positively injure the hair or impart to it an unnatural color which is detected at first sight. But a well-made cosmetic should never produce this effect, and nature must be faithfully imitated if the preparation is to deserve the name of a cosmetic.

With the so-called hair and beard elixirs almost incredible swindles are perpetrated; the practical perfumer, however, cannot advise against the use of such worthless preparations among his goods, as they are in daily demand. This is the reason why we furnish the formulas for some of these secret preparations; anybody at all familiar with the principles of chemistry and physiology will recognize their worthlessness from their composition. The only articles of practical value are those intended for cleansing the hair, for making it soft and glossy, some of the hair dyes, and the preparations for fixing the hair in certain positions.

A. Hair Washes.

Eau d’Athènes.

Macerate the ingredients for one month. The carbonate of potassium and the alcohol cleanse the hair and remove the fat. After using this wash and drying the hair, its fat and gloss should be restored by the application of a good pomade or hair oil.

Eau Glycerinée aux Cantharides.

The tincture of cantharides is made by macerating 1¾ oz. of powdered Spanish flies (Lytta vesicatoria) in one quart of strong alcohol. The caustic ammonia has a similar cleansing effect as the carbonate of potassium; the glycerin makes the hair soft; the entire preparation is a happy combination, as it cleanses and softens the hair at the same time.

Eau de Fleurs; Extrait Végétal.

Eau de Laurier.

Eau de Romarin.

Eau Saponique.

Boil the finely divided soap and the saffron with some distilled water until the soap is completely dissolved, add the other ingredients, mix intimately, and let stand for some days to allow the coarser particles of saffron to settle. This preparation has a particularly handsome appearance; in cut-glass bottles it shows a peculiar opalescence or iridescence; in transmitted light it represents an almost perfectly transparent, saffron-yellow liquid.

Eau Victoria.

Mix the ingredients, except the rose water, by vigorous agitation until a kind of emulsion results. Then add the rose water in small portions, shaking after each addition.

Eau de Roses.

B. Hair Tonics.

Hair Restorer.

Tincture of nut-galls is made by macerating 3½ oz. of powdered nut-galls in one quart of alcohol. The tincture of cinchona in the following formula is prepared in the same manner.

Tanno-Quinine Hair Restorer.

Baume de Milan pour les Cheveux.

Beard Producer.

Rub the cantharides with the carmine to the finest possible powder; add this with the essential oils to the other ingredients.

Formulas for similar hair tonics might be given to the number of several hundreds; but we repeat what we have said above—they do not produce the desired result.

While the well-known bay rum is used more as a face lotion or refreshing skin tonic, particularly after shaving, or when perspiring in hot weather, yet it is also often used as a wash for the scalp, and is popularly believed to stimulate the growth of hair, which is in reality not the case. We shall therefore give a formula for its preparation here:

Bay Rum.

Dissolve the oils in the alcohol and add the water. Mix the liquid with about 2 oz. of precipitated phosphate of lime, and filter. It will improve by age.

Genuine bay rum is imported from the West Indies (St. Thomas, etc.), where a crude kind of alcohol, obtained in connection with the manufacture of rum from molasses, is distilled with the fresh leaves of the bay-tree (Myrcia acris). The oil of bay obtained from this must not be confounded with the oil of sweet bay. The latter, as it appears in commerce, is a crude mixture of a fixed with a volatile oil.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
HAIR DYES AND DEPILATORIES.

The custom of dyeing the hair is universal in the Orient; in the Occident, however, hair dyes are also frequently used, namely, to hide the grayness of the hair, sometimes to give the hair a preferred color. Hair dyes, which are very numerous, may be divided into groups—those containing the dye-stuff ready formed, and those in which it is produced in the hair by some chemical process. Some hair dyes contain substances which in their nature are decidedly injurious to the hair; such articles, of course, must be dispensed with because, if frequently employed, they would certainly lead to baldness. We shall return to this subject in connection with the several preparations.

Regarding the use of hair dyes, especially those consisting of two separate portions, we may state that it is necessary to remove the fat from the hair before applying the dye, as the chemicals in question do not adhere well to fat. The hair should be thoroughly washed once or twice with soap, and dyed when nearly dry.

When dyeing the hair the preparations should first be diluted; if the color is not deep enough, the process is repeated. If the preparation is used at once in a concentrated form, a color may result which has no resemblance to any natural tint; hair meant to be black may assume a metallic bluish-black gloss.

A. Simple Hair Dyes.

Lead Hair Dye.

The ingredients are rubbed to a very fine powder and for use are mixed with water, applied to the hair, and left there until the desired tint—light brown to black—is obtained, from four to twelve hours, when the powder is removed by washing. The lime by its caustic effect acts destructively on the horny substance of the hair. Moreover, all lead preparations without exception are very injurious to the organism; hence this hair dye is to be rejected, especially as there are harmless preparations which produce the same effect.

Karsi (Teinture Orientale).

This preparation, which really comes from the Orient, is made as follows: Reduce the nut-galls to a very fine powder and roast them in an iron pan under continual stirring until they have become dark brown or almost black. This powder is triturated with the metals in fine powder and the aromatics, and preserved in a moist place. For use, some of the powder is moistened in the palm of the hand and vigorously rubbed into the hair; after a few days it assumes a deep black, natural color. The roasting changes the tannin bodies contained in the galls into gallic and pyrogallic acids which form deep black combinations with the metals, and themselves are easily transformed into brownish-black substances.

Kohol (Teinture Chinoise).

Powder the ink and the gum, and triturate small quantities of the powder with rose water until a uniform black liquid results, which must be free from granules. This liquid is placed in a bottle and the rest of the rose water added. Kohol can be used only by persons with black hair, and is employed particularly for dyeing the eyebrows. As the coloring matter of this preparation consists of carbon in a state of fine division, the dye is perfectly harmless.

Vegetable Dye.

This hair dye produces a deep black color, but cannot be recommended, as it is injurious to the hair. Its full effects appear only after the lapse of some hours.

Potassium Permanganate.

Crystalline potassium permanganate is soluble in water, forming a dark violet solution. When brought in contact with an organic substance—paper, linen, skin, horn, hair—it is rapidly decolored and imparts to the substances named a brown tint due to hydrated oxide of manganese. The hair is washed, as stated above, to remove the fat, and the dilute solution applied with a soft brush; the color is produced at once and according to the degree of dilution this innocuous preparation can be made to give any desired color from blond to very dark brown. Of course, this preparation can be used for the beard as well as the hair.

All the hair dyes here and elsewhere given stain the skin as well wherever they come in contact with it; hence care should be taken to protect the skin during their application.

B. Double Hair Dyes.

Silver Hair Dyes.

This and similar hair dyes consist of two preparations, preserved in bottles I. and II.; the latter, containing the silver solution, should be of dark amber-colored or black glass, as the silver salts are decomposed by light. It is utterly useless to employ blue glass for this purpose, as this admits the chemical rays of light as easily as flint glass. For use, some of the liquid from bottle I. is poured into a cup and the hair is moistened with it by means of a soft brush. The liquid from bottle II. is poured into a second cup and applied with another brush.

Brown Dye.

I. (In White Bottle.)

II. (In Dark Bottle.)

Black dye.

I. (In White Bottle.)

II. (In Dark Bottle.)

The sulphide of potassium (liver of sulphur) appears in fragments of a liver-brown mass which readily dissolves in water. The solution must be filtered before being filled into bottles for sale, and, as it becomes turbid in the air, kept in well-closed vessels. When the two solutions are brought together, black sulphide of silver results and darkens the hair. After the use of this preparation a disagreeable odor of rotten eggs adheres to the hair, but can be easily removed by washing, especially with one of the previously mentioned hair washes.

The silver hair dye will be still better if the liquid contained in bottle II. is made by dropping into the solution, under continual stirring, ammonia water, until the precipitate first formed is again dissolved.

Melanogène.

I. (In Dark Bottle.)